If you head over here , The Ting Tings have put up Great DJ as a free download for the moment. Good tune but still think Thats Not My Name has more of a punch. They will be part of the NME tour that is in the Ambassador on Wednesday the 30th of May…typical that I won’t be able to make it so hope they are back again soon.

[Edit]- not available via MySpace directly any longer but if you click on the header it will bring you to iTunes where you can get it there…presumably still free though.

It’s Australia Day so Midnight Oil came straight to mind- I loved this group in 88 when Diesel and Dust came out- constantly listened to the whole album and to their follow up Blue Sky Mining. Their earlier album 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 has more of a punk feel and there are some great tracks there as well.

Unquestionably political with every single track- no surprise then that Peter Garrett studied law and is now a member of the Australian House of Representatives- so chances of a reunion are slim! They were the first group that I saw in the Olympia and they were excellent- in Australia they would have been a stadium group so to see them in such a small venue was brilliant. Unfortunately for me there have been comparisons with his disjointed dancing and mine- not a compliment believe me!

Came across another great music blog today when looking for a group mentioned on the Kiosk (Surrounded).

Swedes Please is a blog dedicated to presenting Swedish groups and has some great content- I think what very little free time I have over the next few weeks is going to be spent here! There is a link from this post to Lines Through Lines where you can find three of Surrounded tracks to download.

I came across quite a few things Swedish last year: Loney, Dear and Little Dragon are relatively new groups and I listened to The Knife quite a bit again. I also met Helena and Annika- two lovely Swedish girls at Electric Picnic! I had actually looked into going to Gothenburg in Feb-March and try to catch a few gigs but the new job has changed those plans until later in the year at some stage.

I never thought I would be advocating going to HMV but I went into browse the usually outrageously priced world cinema and I was shocked to see three excellent films from last year at 3 for €30…..would have bought them today but I picked up tickets for Band of Horses and Broken Social Scene so the wallet was a bit lighter!

I have made the decision to take the promotion. While I am not exactly happy about the commute I really have no choice but to take it. I know I am too Dublin-centric and to be honest I still don’t think I would live anywhere else in the country…unless it was with somebody special and since I don’t have anybody it is the job and the boys that I have to think about. For those of you who don’t know, I work for the Civil Service (for my massive sins). Please note that I am not a Civil Servant…there is a huge difference in mentality there and I will never fit that mould no matter how long they employ me. Believe me I have strict instructions with the friends that if I ever start acting like I am institutionalised they are to have me put down immediately.

Anyway, with the Service it is not everyday that a promotion comes up- you have to do exams then interviews and they are not every year or even every two so if I don’t take this opportunity now it could easily be 3-4 years before I would find myself in this position again. Just as an example, if I were to wait for a promotion on seniority (like a real Civil Servant would) then I am appx 1800 on the list in my current department- no that was not a typo! I still may get the chance to come back to my current department but after the interview I think that is slim- they seem to be taking only outsiders and not promoting from within. I can always quit anyway and find something else (which is what I have been thinking recently) but with having IT skills and no certification it would be fun to say the least to find a starting salary that I could live on. Somehow my degree with International Relations and Russian Language has never been very useful here!

Just as a sidenote and to add some fun to the week, the car that I would need for the commute broke down and I have to debate about getting it fixed or even replace it at this stage. The thing that has me laughing though is that the day after it broke down I finally get the letter about having the driving test which usually takes almost a year to get! Typical!! I do have a licence and have been driving for 21 years now but the Irish licence is for automatics only since that is what I did the test in years ago so I have to do it again in a manual. Been putting it on the long finger with all the messing about Dublin Corporation has done over the years (that is a rant for another time!) so have to get it done now!

Profile Picture

Many thanks to United Visual Artists (www.uva.co.uk) for the profile picture from the music video 'Tonto' by Battles. They have done some amazing light fixtures for other groups and shows so check them out!